Is The FBI Suppressing Evidence?

In a follow-up to this morning’s Face The Nation interview of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) about Operation Fast and Furious, CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson reports that the committee will be asking for more information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Issa said this morning that the family of Agent Terry was told by agents attending his funeral that there were three firearms found at the murder scene.

Documents released to the committee only mentioned two weapons linked to Operation Fast and Furious. Issa wants to know more about the third weapon and what tests from it have shown. Recordings from conversations between ATF Agent Hope McAllister and the owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company seem to indicate there was a third firearm and that it was an SKS.

Issa On Face The Nation

If you missed seeing Rep. Darrell Issa and CBS Investigative Reporter Sharyl Attkisson on CBS’s Face The Nation this morning, here it is courtesy of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s YouTube page.

One of the key things that Issa said was that the Committee’s subpoenas to the Department of Justice were narrowly focused. He goes on to say that in many cases they already have e-mails and memos provided to them by whistle-blowers but want the original documents from the Department of Justice and/or White House to confirm their authenticity. This goes along with what Dave Hardy wrote earlier this week about the subpoena in Of Arms and The Law.

I was happy to see that CBS featured Project Gunwalker on their Sunday news show Face The Nation. While I would have wanted more questions asked (and answered), the mere fact that it was on this program underscores its growing importance in Washington. We in the blogosphere and in the gun rights community have always recognized this but having it shown on one of the premier mainstream media programs confirms it to the general public.

Sunday Morning Hodge-Podge

I normally don’t watch CBS’s Face The Nation with Bob Schieffer because he drives me nuts. Today, I will make an exception. The topic for discussion will be on Project Gunwalker.

Coming Up on Face the Nation

Topic: “Fast and Furious” gunwalker case
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Chairman, Oversight & Government Reform Committee

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., Ranking Member, Oversight & Government Reform Committee

Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News Investigative Correspondent

It airs at 10:30 am Eastern. As they say, check your local listings for times in your area.

I don’t think I can overstate the importance of this. Face The Nation along with NBC’s Meet the Press, ABC’s This Week, and Fox’s Fox News Sunday is the type of program where major issues are discussed with the aim of influencing policymakers. Usually the topics revolve around taxes, jobs, the economy, and war. To have them discuss Project Gunwalker is evidence that at least CBS News is recognizing that it is a critical scandal for the Obama Administration. Moreover, it also makes it harder for the rest of the mainstream media to keep burying the story.

In gun blogging news, it is time to welcome a new gun blog called Shall Not Be Questioned. It really isn’t so much a new blog as a rebranded blog. It is the old Snowflakes In Hell blog with a new name, new look, and a new feel. That said, it will still be a gun blog run by Sebastian. He has this to say about why he is making the change.

But the biggest change you’ll probably notice, unless I can’t make my idea for it work (I’m a horrible graphic artist), is a name change for the blog. With the exception of the name, and a new look and feel, it’ll be the same blog. Same posts, same archives, and same comments as always. If links worked before, they’ll still work. I am looking at implementing a few requested enhancements people asked for.

I picked the name “Snowflakes in Hell” hastily, never thinking I’d keep this up. Ever since I passed the 1000 visitors a day mark, I’ve hated it. I’ve also hated it when I introduce myself as a blogger, and I get a weird look from the uninitiated when I tell them the name. Rather than talking about the blog, I get to spend the first 10 minutes explaining the name. I’ve also, rather humorously, heard people that did not know I was Sebastian mention they found something on this site “Snowflakes in Hell,” but they didn’t understand what kind of site it was. With my name and theme, who can blame them? I want a theme and a name that draws people in. I think a more relevant name and theme will be necessary to take this blog to the next level, and continue to grow my audience, and improve my brand.

I’ve updated by my gun blog links here to reflect the changeover. Having visited Shall Not Be Questioned, I think Sebastian has done a masterful job with the new look and feel. The typeface and background give it a Colonial period look which says to me the fight for freedom has been going on for over two hundred years.

Good luck to Sebastian and Bitter with the “new” blog.

Finally, over at Sipsey Street Irregulars, Mike Vanderboegh has a post on selective White House document releases. It appears to be an effort to shift blame for gunwalking back to the Bush Administration. However, it looks like it will end up rebounding on them.

You know, the best disinformation is a lie wrapped in a kernel of truth. Recall that early on the DOJ floated the excuse that “gun walking” was all Newell’s idea. We pooh-poohed that at the time, saying that Newell did not have the authority to make this multi-jurisdictional anti-law enforcement cluster coital situation happen.

But the Obama flacks knew what they were talking about, as far as it went.

Gunwalking WAS Bill Newell’s idea, and nobody knew that better than the people he sold the idea to.

And now, thanks to the desperate and incompetent folks at the White House scandal deflection team, we have more details of the early experiences of William “Gunwalker Bill” Newell, the guy who sold the whole idea to the people in the White House — who then began to make things happen to try to make the Ninety Percent Myth come true.

Make sure to read the whole post. It ties a lot of stuff together.

Quote Of The Day

Reuben Navarette, Jr. is a columnist and former journalist who gets it when it comes to Operation Fast and Furious aka Project Gunwalker. As he notes in an opinion piece published yesterday at CNN.com, this scandal is about dead Mexicans.

Frankly, I am surprised by Holder’s use of words such as “irresponsible” and “inflammatory.” What could be more irresponsible than allowing weapons to be smuggled into a foreign country, weapons that then wind up killing the citizens of that country? And what could be more inflammatory than appearing to cover up such an operation and distancing oneself from it as staffers allegedly yell, scream and curse at reporters who are just doing their jobs?

And what was the purpose of these alleged theatrics? Was all this huffing and puffing intended to get Attkisson to back off the story? Brilliant.

As a former reporter, let me give the administration a tip: Attacking journalists is usually as effective in stamping out a story as gasoline is in putting out a fire.

A Good Company Doing Good

There are good companies and then there are good companies doing good. Crimson Trace falls into the latter category with their support for the SEAL-NSW Family Foundation.

Nammo Talley and Crimson Trace Join Forces for SEAL – NSW Family Foundation Fundraiser

(Wilsonville, OR) Crimson Trace Corp (CTC) and Nammo Talley, Inc. have joined together to help raise awareness and solicit donations on behalf of the upcoming benefit event for the SEAL – NSW Family Foundation being held on November 3, 2011.

This fundraising event is being held in San Diego to benefit the families of the United States Navy SEALS. As advocates of the SEAL Foundation’s mission of providing immediate and ongoing support and assistance to the Naval Special Warfare community and their families, both companies are inviting donations from their industry friends in order to hold a live and silent auction to raise funds for the foundation. In addition to CTC and Nammo Talley, will be attended by Leatherman, Benchmade, MRS and Danner

CTC Defense director Dale Suzuki appealed to the firearms community for goods and services. “We’re acutely aware of the contributions the special forces community make in the service of their country. Since the loss of 38 service members in August, the Seal Foundation has been focused on supporting the families of the bereaved. Now it’s our turn to help them.”

Deliberately Obtuse

Ranking Minority Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is being deliberately obtuse in his criticism of the Committee’s subpoena of Attorney General Eric Holder.

Washington, D.C. (Oct. 12, 2011)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a statement in response to a subpoena issued by Chairman Darrell E. Issa to the Department of Justice for tens of thousands of pages of documents.

“As I have said all along, Fast and Furious was a terrible mistake with tragic consequences,” said Cummings. “The Committee is right to investigate what went wrong and why, but we must do so in a fair and responsible manner.”

“This subpoena is a deep-sea fishing expedition and a gross abuse of the Committee’s authority. It demands tens of thousands of pages of highly sensitive law enforcement and national security materials that have never been requested before and are completely unrelated to Operation Fast and Furious,” said Cummings. “Rather than legitimate fact-gathering, this looks more like a political stunt.”

The 22 categories of subpoenaed documents include:

•weekly reports to the Attorney General that are completely unrelated to Operation Fast and Furious and contain some of the nation’s most sensitive law enforcement and national security information;
•communications between the Department of Justice and the White House press office about White House press events; and
•documents related to confidential informants who provided information about the operations of a leading Mexican drug cartel, the production of which could put the lives of those informants and their families in grave jeopardy, according to the FBI.

The Department of Justice has produced thousands of pages of documents to the Committee and continues to produce documents on a regular basis. Ranking Member Cummings has asked the Department to cooperate fully with the Committee’s investigation.

Would those be the same documents delivered to the committee that have been so utterly redacted that they look like a black inkspot?

Mr. Cummings obviously believes his job is not to serve the American people in the search for the truth but rather to protect the Obama Administration in this investigation. As Dave Hardy noted regarding the subpoena, it is “specific enough to show the committee knows details about who wrote to whom.” I think Mr. Cummings does understand just how bad those details are and is doing his damnedest to prevent their exposure.

Emily Gets Her Gun Series

Emily Miller is a senior editor at the Washington Times. She also lives within the District of Columbia and wants to have a handgun for self-protection. In a series of articles, Ms. Miller is finding out just how hard it is to obtain a handgun in the District of Columbia. If it is this hard for someone who presumably is well connected, just imagine how hard it is for ordinary people to obtain the tools for self-defense in the District of Columbia.

Beginning of the quest.

Inside DC’s Gun Registry Office.

Interview with Charles Sykes – DC’s only gun dealer.

In this interview with Cam Edwards of NRA News, Ms. Miller describes her encounter with the Gun Registry Office.

Below is Cam Edwards’ interview on Tuesday with Ms. Miller for NRA News in which she describes meeting Mr. Sykes.